mlacomb

All:

I've run power wires to the back, tapped into the front speakers at the factory amp location (shoving speaker wire into the rear of the terminals and taped up; amazingly stable) and have a sub+amp in the trunk now.

My future goals include replacing all of the audio components in the car. HU, speakers, wiring etc to the trunk. However - I ALWAYS leave the factory options in the car and retain the factory speakers so that if I do decide to trade or sell, I can revert back to stock at that time.

My question is this - I've looked at the sub in the rear deck a few times during the install, but I can't discern how to just disconnect the sub. For those of you who have worked in the rear deck (pulling seats etc) - is there a clip somewhere that just removes the sub from the picture? I don't plan on totally removing the sub - but that's a possibility.

I even went as far as to try to remove the black plastic shell on the bottom - looks like it's held in with only one screw, but it must be glued on - I couldn't find any other fasteners around. Also - disconnecting the sub at the amp by removing the plug means I lose other wires too; it's not the only thing connected to that connector on the factory amp.

So - tl;dr version - where's the clip to disconnect the rear sub? I have to imagine that there is one for easy replacement. I just don't want it to be fighting with the sub that's in the trunk now - causing frequency dips and booms throughout the car, however subtle.

mlacomb

Looks like I figured out the easy way for my answer. Don't know why I didn't think of this:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/$T2eC16F,!zQE9s3sqJPMBQVRO,0Ou!~~60_35.JPG

Basically, the sub is like all of the other speakers in the car - passed through to the face where the clip lies. If I'm going to go through the trouble of disconnecting it, I wonder if it would help the other sub to just remove it altogether. Any thoughts?

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

If you're installing a conservative sub and amp then no.

EDIT: You should probably pull it out anyways because it will give better resonance into the by from removing the blockage from the stock IB sub. Not 100% necessary though.

If you are not, you can pull it out when you're sound proofing the rear deck and the underside from the trunk as there will be a considerable amount of rattle from there. The largest contributor being the rear sunshade. If going this route remember that the glue on the fabric covering the port might not be able to handle the air flow if using a ported box. I had to cut mine out after it lifted.

mlacomb

Yeah; my thinking is to just remove it. If I'm going through the trouble of tearing down the rear deck to just disconnect it, I'm not going to leave it there. I can re-install if the car ever gets sold/traded.

My setup is in a mid-state right now, 500w rms amp (Kenwood 8105d) + kicker 15" sub in a box that is way too small for the sub. This year I'm going to build a custom box for a solid 12" (JL possibly). The future box will be sealed. I'm also going on Monday to my local audio shop - in using the speaker ins off of the factory amp, it's not driving the amp well at all (I'm running off the fronts as stated above.) Will be picking up an AudioControl LC2i to convert and boost to line out levels. Their (AudioControl) stuff is on the pricey side, but I'm wanting the best possible sound out of this in the meantime until I go full bore on a nearly $2k setup to replace EVERYTHING....

Robert_J

I left mine in for two reasons. 1. I didn't want to remove it from the deck. With the rear window shade, it would have been a huge pain to do something at would have absolutely ZERO impact to the sound quality.
2. It gave me the option to use the full space in the trunk by removing my aftermarket sub and still having some bass. When I have the 12" sub in, I high pass the signal going to the factor amp at 80hz. If I remove the sub, I also remove the high pass filter (setting on the head unit) by setting it to off. Then a full range signal goes to the factory amp and the factory sub will work again.

mlacomb

I'm personally flip flopping between having a good head unit where I can customize the sound up front and keeping the stock system with more AudioControl equipment. I personally don't need anything more from a head unit other than to be able to custom EQ and bass control; I like the stock look in the car however. Time will tell, I don't have all the $$ now to complete it so I'm doing pieces at a time.

I don't have the sunshade option installed, so removing the back seat and getting the stock sub out is not going to be a big deal I'm guessing. With the current sub in the car, I'm causing the fabric on top of the stock sub to really shake up and down. I'm sure with that much movement, the stock sub is being beat up a little. As much as I'd like to leave it in in case I take the sub out (as you stated Robert_J to give more room in the trunk etc) I just don't want to cause any damage to it by overdriving it, and I know I'm getting some resonances between the stock and the aftermarket.

I'll keep everyone posted as to how much of a challenge this is. I looked at it briefly last night; the piece that sits over the sub almost looks like a cover that can just be removed, but in moving it around it seems pretty stuck onto the rear deck covering.

Robert_J

There is definitely not enough pressure in your trunk to move your sub more than 2 or 3 mm unless you go with some type of super sub.

If you really want to stop the movement of your factory sub, disconnect it and short the inputs with a 1k resistor. That creates a circuit which will use the magnetic force to keep the driver from moving. Ascendant Audio used something similar years ago with their Atlas line of subs. They came standard with a 4 ohm coil and then a smaller, 2 ohm coil. The 2 ohm coil was designed to be left open, shorted or shorted with a resistor. Each combination changed the electrical property (Qes) of the driver and therefore changed the Qts which would impact the frequency response.

mlacomb

Yeah; that's a good idea - I don't know why I didn't think of that! I'm just trying to check through things to make sure the stock sub isn't interfering with the add-on. Shame I have to tear apart the car to do this (plug not being accessable at ALL, thanks Lexus) - but I also want to put some carpeted particle boards up on the rear seat to hold the amps, so it'll just be good timing.

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

The center carpeted area in the rear deck is non removable unless you break where its held on by. They're plastic tabs that are melted onto each other. It is possible to remove, fabricate and then have glue hold it down.
Consider that you will need a glue after refabricating the cloth or grill part that will not get absorbed into the fabric when gluing the fabric back down.
Another option would be you can cut a small hole into the fabric at the very center of the grill, then very very carefully cut out the plastic grill with a dremel while pulling up on the fabric and reglue the fabric which is what I did. Doesn't look perfect but no one looks back there anyways. The main concern to fix was just the fabric that would vibrate and buzz and to not restrict the air from trunk to cabin.
Also, realize that the amp rack you are making doesn't have to sit perfectly flush to the trunk opening. Being attached to the X beam behind the seats should be enough. The trunk covers will cover the edges, the seats will black out the gap, and the above mentioned grill cut out will enable to air to go up instead of attempting to go behind the seats. No more back massages for passengers
tl;dr Ive thought through and implemented things about the sound system no one has cared for before. I have too much free time

Robert_J

What year model is this? I can "easily" get in the trunk and find the connection to my factory sub.

For your amp boards, I would go with a quality plywood that will hold screws better.

mlacomb

2008. The plug on the subwoofer side of the cabling is on top of the rear deck, beneath the covering. A friend and I attempted to get the whole rear deck covering removed; but found that the connection is just reachable if you cram your hand in on the passenger side... once we disconnected the sub, I just said screw it - not worth messing around near the air bags etc and we buttoned it back up.

On the Amp side, there's more than just the sub wires that plug in on the connector; I didn't want to remove that side and lose any other functionality. I am still feeding the stock HU to the stock Amp, just not utilizing the factory sub.

iceblast

Does the stock sub remain connected when you use a PAC TATO adapter? I wish to change just my head unit and component speakers, and hopefully use a PAC TATO to do the interfacing to the stock amp ...

mlacomb

I believe so. The input to the amp from what i saw on the wiring diagram less me to believe the amp does the work of crossover and control of the signal to each speaker. You shouldn't have an issue with that config.

iceblast

Quick question ... did you change out your OEM component speakers? If so, how was the quality after replacing them?
The ones in the es 350 '07 non-ML are quite bad.

I am thinking about placing JL CR2's in there, and the stock headunit/amp should be enough to power them I hope.

mlacomb

I haven't replaced mine yet. When i do i will be adding an amplifier to drive them. I do agree, the stock non ml speakers suck.